I had plans to ski/climb Mt. St. Helens on Sunday, but I figured why not make the most of the long trek from Seattle and do a little exploring in the surrounding area and as such, I decided to go on a waterfall walkabout.
It's important to note that all of these hikes are reachable by driving forest road 90 from the west. The WTA website is incorrectly noting that Curly Creek Falls is inaccessible.
The day had a mix of sun, clouds, and some light rain.
I started at the Lewis River Campground and took the short walk to the Lower Falls view point. It really is magically stunning. Since, my aim was to see as many falls as possible and also not to tire myself out too much I then got back in my car and drove about a mile to the well signed Middle Falls parking lot and walked down to the Middle Falls which brings you straight past the idyllic Copper Creek Falls and finally down to the Middle Falls, which were probably my least favorite of the day. I once again returned to my car and drove up to another access point just before Quartz Creek. I did an out and back to the Upper Falls in which you get to also take a gander at Taitnapum Falls.
I then got in my car and started heading back towards Cougar (where I was meeting some friends and staying for the night) and along the way I stopped at Big Creek Falls, which I figured would be quite the adventure since the trail is unsigned and abandoned. I had little trouble locating the correct parking area about 1 mile down the road from the Speed onto Lewis River Trailhead. It is also on the right and is easily noticeable as there is a large flat area that was once a car park, but looks like it might be used for some rogue car camping these days with a large stone fire ring. The viewing platform for the falls has been dismantled, making getting a very good view of the falls a little difficult as does the encroaching vegetation. I decided to continue to the trails end. There were about a dozen blow downs on the trail, but all were fairly easy to clamber over. The trail is easy to follow, but no longer offers much in the way of views. About .5 miles down there is a large fall across the valley that you can hear and catch glimpses, but can not view in all of its glory, it looks like it might be some amazing gorge type falls. Continuing to the trails end you will find a viewing area where you can see across the valley to some very tall falls that didn't have too much water flowing through them and so were not very impressive as it just looked like a big curtain of water that thinly veiled the cliff face.
And my final stop for the day was at Curly Creek Falls which are spectacular with its rock arches and another falls a few hundred feet down at the trails end named Miller Falls.
All in all, my GPS says that I walked about 7 miles and got to see 7 glorious waterfalls, which I think is pretty good value for the money.
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